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ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – Mirroring a national report, pedestrian deaths in both Missouri and Illinois are on the decline.

Compiling statistics for the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, Allan Williams compared the number of pedestrians killed while walking on America’s roads in the first half of last year to the same period the year before.

“We find that they are decreasing by 9% which is a pretty strong decrease,” says Williams.

In Missouri, pedestrian deaths fell from 41 to 34. In Illinois, they fell from 58 to 52. And that’s after 3 years of seeing a large increase in the number of pedestrians killed. Nationally, pedestrian traffic fatalities fell in 2013, reversing a three-year increase.

“One of the most important things in protecting pedestrians is to slow down vehicles,” says Williams.

He says one possible reason could be speed limits are being obeyed more or maybe enforced more.